Pretty leaf collages....

The boys and I went on a beautiful walk today and collected lots of leaves. It is that bittersweet time of year and it is amazing to be here in the mountains! Colter came home and decided to make Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Lester a pretty leaf picture. He knows how much Aunt Bonnie likes the colors in the fall since she was here the last two years in September. After he finished his masterpiece he made one for Mimi and is planning on another for Micheal (at that point he told me it was "so he would know what he was missing") That kid cracks me up. Four years old is so much fun, actually he is "four and five quarters". I am really enjoying the stages that the boys are at right now. They are both so much fun to hang out with and they still like me! I don't know what age that ends, but I will be crying. Dylan is a strong willed little man and has a very good idea of what he wants and when. Let's just say that he is learning about Time-Outs months before Colter was introduced to the subject--and we thought Colter was a busy boy. After Dylan and I being gone in Denver for a while, Colter decided we needed some at home time and informed me that we could stay home and lay around for one whole week and then have some days in Moab. He has it all figured out.
Last weekend we all met up in Grand Junction. Trevor and Colter went to an Air Show where they saw the Blue Angels, a bi-plane, a stunt plane and lots of other good stuff. Colter cannot get over the diesel truck that had a jet engine. "Mom, it shot FIRE! And it raced the airplanes, and at the end it blew smoke and the plane flew through it and , and , and...." he can talk about that thing for hours. He met the driver and he got an autographed picture and "Oh my gosh Mom it went so fast! It was so COOL, MOM!" We stayed at Shawn and Jamie's house on Saturday night and had a great time. Colter and Brooklyn play so well together and we always enjoy our visits with them.
Noah is continuing to fight and improving everyday. It will be a long road, but I know he can pull it off!

Noah Blakney

Many of you may have noticed a gap in my posts. We have put our own adventure on hold as we are helping Rob, Sheila, Eli, Gideon and Noah with theirs. Little Noah is fighting hard and we are very hopeful. He was born on September 8, 2008 with a congenital heart defect known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome or HLHS. Please visit his CarePage website for up to the minute news. Go to www.carepages.com , register as a member and then click on the VISIT link then type NoahBlakney. That should take you there.
As far as our crew, we are OK. We did enjoy one nice day and night in Moab with beautiful weather and our friends John, Melissa and Brooke. When Noah is doing better, we will definately go back!

Blues and Brews

What a fun festival! The weather was beautiful, the music was great and the food and beer were plentiful. I ran my massage booth all weekend and stayed very busy. When Dylan got to warm, he would just walk up and climb into the ice chest for a while and hand people water and ice. I think he had about 100 pictures taken on peoples phones and cameras! The boys had a great time running around, dancing, playing with friends and on the giant slide and bungy thing. Yes that is my four year old in a harness, the guy pulled him down and then let go and Colter would spring way up in the air (over 20 feet!) and bounce up and down. He thought it was so funny, he did it three times! We are so lucky to live in such a breathtaking place with some much to do!

Welcome Race Fans......Ready, Set , GO!

The great 4 year old birthday weekend extravaganza is winding down. It was so much fun and the weather was amazing for all of our festivities!

Pic 1 is the line up for the big bike race. I have to say it, Colter won by a mile! He has practiced so long for this race and he was so happy. Most parents were surprised that he was riding so well for his age on just two wheels, you know Trevor was beaming. Trevor and Colter had even built some ramp jumps for the race course and he was flying over them. Eli did great as well. They were the only two without training wheels. All of the kids had fun on the ramps, there were tricycles, big wheels, bikes and some just running and jumping. He loved his new bike and probably did 100 laps around the little race course. It was a great party and all of his friends that made it had fun going over the ramps, eating cupcakes and cake, playing at the Imagination Station and in the sand at the volleyball courts.

Pic 2 is Colter on the little four wheeler in his new to him, way to big chest protector and helmet for motorcycling (when he is about 10!) As you can see from Pic 3, both boys love to dress up and wear it around.

Pic 4 shows the new birthday bike. It has stunt pegs. Colter has no idea what to do with them, thank goodness, but he knows they are cool!

Pic 5 is so funny to me. Colter packed all of his camping gear in the back of the truck, including the four wheeler---just like Dad!

No, Mom this is how it goes.....

The first two are of Colter and Eli at gymnastics, the next two are in the ghost town of Tomboy (for you readers out there, the book Tomboy Bride is a good one)

We loved the last few days of summer and are welcoming the first days of fall. The weather has shifted, it was 34 degress this morning and we had ice on our windshield.

Eli and Colter are in gymnastics every Thurs. and they are doing great. They both listen to the teachers and love jumping from the trampoline into the foam pit. The car rides back and forth to Montrose have been both educational and entertaining. Almost four year old minds are a fun and exciting place and I love listening to the boys tell stories and jokes. It turns out Colter got his imagination back from Mexico and is happy to have it home. He gave me a lesson today about money. We were leaving lunch and the restaraunt had a row of those evil quarter toy/candy machines. He and Eli asked for a treat and I said "Next time if you want a treat from these machines, you should bring money from your piggy bank." Colter's answer "No Mom, let me tell you how it goes. The kid asks the grown up for money, the grown up gives the kid money and the kid buys a TREAT!" Needless to say, he didn't get his treat, but he is a very good problem solver.

Trevor's birthday was last Friday and he celebrated with a motorcycle ride with his friends and a weekend with us. We went over Imogene Pass on Monday, mostly because I had never done it before. It is the same road the boys went over a couple of weeks ago. Colter offered to hold my hand if I was scared and I took him up on it a couple of times! It was a beautiful drive and we ended up in Ouray for a late lunch and then to Ridgway for a soak at Orvis.

Colter's birthday is tomorrow. I can't believe he is already four! He is an amazing little man and I love him so much. For the last couple of months he has been planning his birthday bash. It is to be a BMX bike race party in Town Park. on Saturday.